Tuesday, 29 June 2010

Thursday, 17 June 2010

I found these couple of videos really interesting. For a start it shows how silly Americans are, but they also show the possibilites for the bus as character. The first video shows the buses racing, which could be a plot point with two rival buses and would bring competitive characteristics out in the bus drivers.

The second video shows the bus doing a wheelie, which shows that it could be quite a dynamic and have some interesting poses. It could also show a character to the bus that it is trying to show off or move against its type of vehicle.

Both of the videos reminded me of Disney Pixar's Cars, and this is a good example to follow for the bus character as they move fluidly and are believable despite being solid 'inanimate' objects.

These images were taken on a bus from Swadlincote to Burton On Trent. Being Midland buses, they are not as advanced as the ones in London and do not tell you where you are and also do not have a screen telling you the name of each bus stop.

Obviously the key features of the bus are the large windows, the hand rails for people standing with the stop buttons attached, the seating arrangement with two sideways seats at the front of the bus, and also the advertisments that align the roof. These would need to be included in a design for the bus.

The next two pictures were taken quickly whilst inside the bus, and could show a point of view perspective of the world outside. They are both of the bus stop. In this case, the stop is in a proper bus station with lots of stops around it, so I was able to take a picture of another bus driving through the second image. Of course, this is not the case for all bus stops and many do not even have the seating area to wait for the buses. This will show a change in area for the bus stops, and the main ones such as this may provide a good starting and ending point to provide bookends to the journey.

Infact the whole story could be signposted by the bus stops and the names on them.

The glass provides a kind of shield between the people that would have been waiting and the people on the bus. They seem like a kind of cattle shed or prison block to keep the waiters together, which could be shown from them looking through the glass to people passing by in cars. Part of the story could even be provided by the waiting for the bus before the main action begins upon it.

The first idea I am going to look into is the Bus Journey. I thought the Bus itself would be a good starting point as it is going to be the principle character really throughout the film.

I am going to take some photographs myself of different buses but thought I would start with a couple of images from the web.

It must be decided whether the bus will be English or American (or neither of them) based, as this will also affect the location choices and the characters that ride upon it. Here are a few American ones.

I can rule out the school bus straight away because I do not want to limit the type and ages of the characters that ride the bus. I do however like the shape of the bus and its rounded roof.

The next image is also interesting as the colour breaks with convention, although it may look quite garish on screen.

The shape is also more square and it looks lower to the ground so this will affect the way it moves over the ground and also when it comes to a stop.

Things to consider:

weight of the bus

weight of the passengers

how the bus moves around corners/ straight road

speed the bus is travelling

height to the ground and size of the wheels

This is going to get quite scientific!

Finally, I could not look into buses and leave out the classic red London bus. The difference between this and my other pictures is that it is a double decker, which could allow more character animation (with them climbing the stairs maybe drunk or looking shifty), and also more camera tracking shots from the different levels. The added section will also change the points listed above.

I am going to take some images of my own to compare to these models, and probably try to create a bus that incorporates different key features from all of them.

Third year is nearly upon us and it is time for me to start developing my individual film.I want to persue a few ideas throughout the summer months and narrow them down to one final idea by September, where I will push further with just one project and collate it all together for my presentation.

I have a few ideas for my film so far, which are

Animation on a bus: character study, could be confrontation on the bus or it could travel through very cartoony worlds. Would be very caricatured and stylised.

A performance piece: an animated version of a performance, like a music video or a character on stage dancing with effects lighting and interesting environment. Could have a circus theme as I have reference for that already.

An adventure: hero after a treasure ala Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones. Lush environments possible such as jungles and temples, allowing for a mixture of human and nature, as well as allowing creativity with the characters.

I am going to start looking into these for now as I can get a lot of varied research for all of them before I get overloaded with ideas.

Holiday ProjectLevel 2 progressing to BA AnimationIn preparation and support of the assessable criteria required inboth course specific units delivered in term 1;COM304 Professional SkillsCOM306 Portfolio (Major Project)Assessment Criteria (mapped against Learning Outcomes) Produce work that shows the development of narrative,appropriateness of production or postproduction techniques toa professional standard. (A1) Show coherently how the study of commercial products hasdeveloped or changed the student’s own approach tocreativity and thinking. (A1, C1) Evidence a good understanding of the writing, research andproduction or post-production and/or project managementprocess. (B1, D1, E1) Deliver a project to time, resource and budget. (D1) Evidence of effective communication within and acrossgroups/teams (E1).Based on the above assessable criteria the following holidayprojects have been set.PROJECT 1 304-C1Over the summer break students will identify, collate andcontextualize successful examples of media forms and show howthis will inform the development of their finished piece.These media forms could be any of the following; Movies (clips – stills) Books Illustrations Journals On line resources Magazines Trips to Museums Trips to relevant locations Images Audio Music Character designs Costume design Mood boards (collections of relevant images) Movement and performance reference for animation. Relevant tutorials to realize your final project.You will be encouraged to source media forms (films, animations,illustrations, images etc.) that in some way you feel might berelevant to your major project idea.This process will help you identify, define and develop your mainproject idea.You are also encouraged to keep a journal or online blog of thisprocess and write up and contextualize (consider and evaluate) howthis content will influence and affect your main project.PROJECT 2 304-A1Alongside this research develop an idea or ideas leading to a finalindividual project. This piece can be;Narrative:A structured story with a beginning, middle and end such as atraditional animated short film.Non-linear narrative:A commercial, brand based, mood piece.You are strongly encouraged to limit your project to 2 minutes inlength.Once you have decided the type of narrative storytelling you wantto use gather more research to further inform your development.In this process you will develop and produce the following; Thumbnails Colour boards Concept work Screenplay Storyboards Character Synopsis Character Designs Environmental DesignsPROJECT 3 COM DConsider the production, management and marketing of your piece.Ask yourself the following questions; Am I leader? Do I want to direct or produce or do I want to remain anartist? How many people will you need to complete this project? What specialism’s do you require from your team? What is your specialism and what other areas or specialism’s do you needto complete your project Where best can you find these specialists? (Amongst the animation cohortor perhaps other courses in the faculty?) What does it take to form a successful team? Will everyone get what he or she wants’ from the project? Realistically, how long will your project take to make? (bear in mind allyour other college commitments and deadlines) Who is the film aimed at, what market? How will you market it?COMMUNICATION Evidence of effective communication within and acrossgroups/teams (E1).In order to encourage all of you to keep in touch with each otherover the long summer break we will suggest the following.Staff will create a forum on moodle devoted to the summer projectswhere all of you will be able to upload work, be able to view eachothers work, comment, and give support and feedback.To help motivate you during the long holiday staff will suggest 1main submission date to the forum in mid September. Work will besubmitted though and it will be used to to monitor your progressand help you all keep on target for final delivery.A formative review will take place in the first few weeks of term 1.All students will be expected to present their individual ideas in a10-15 minute pitch. Students and staff will consider the pitches andthe final group films will then be chosen. This process will beassessed and count towards your final grade for COM-304.